CITATION INFORMATION Salama, A. M., & Wiedmann, F. (2016). Perceiving Urban Liveability in an Emerging Migrant City. Urban Design and Planning. ISSN # 1755-0793 10.1680/jurdp.15.00034 (Ahead of print).

Perceiving Urban Liveability in an Emerging Migrant City

Author 1 ● Professor Ashraf M. Salama, PhD. ● Professor and Head of Architecture, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Author 2

● Florian Wiedmann, PhD. ● Research Associate, Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Abstract

Gulf cities have witnessed rapid urban growth where new migrant communities from various cultural

backgrounds have been evolving over the past two decades. This paper explores perceptions of

liveable urban environments in Qatar’s capital city, Doha. An attitude survey of 280 migrant

professionals from different cultural backgrounds engaged in the high service sector was

conducted. A profile for each cultural group including westerners, middle-easterners, Indians,

Southeast Asians was developed to analyse the way in which key liveability factors are perceived.

Factors were classified into two overarching categories: urban life and urban spaces. Urban life

category included aspects that pertain to traffic and movement experience, residential satisfaction,

shopping experience, and satisfactions of leisure and service spaces. Urban space category

included attractiveness, iconicity, and familiarity, which were attitudinally explored in four public

open spaces. The inquiry uncovers a number of concerns related traffic experience, housing

quality, parking spaces, school facilities, and shopping opportunities. This may stymie the city’s

global attractiveness success on the global stage while warranting the need for addressing livability

as part of future development plans.

Keywords specific to this article

Liveability; Multiculturalism, Doha; Sustainability; Migrant city

1. Introduction

Gulf cities have witnessed rapid urban growth and a transformation of social and economic

structures due adopting new development strategies. The vision to develop Gulf cities into global

hubs is based on the fortunate geographic location between rising markets in combination with the

still remaining wealth on fossil fuels in the region. The main pioneer of this new development model

has been the Emirate of Dubai, which was the first to initiate a freehold property market stimulating

an unprecedented construction boom at the beginning of the 21st century. The direct consequence

has been extensive immigration and a subsequently shrinking share of the local population to less

than 15% (Davidson, 2009). In most Gulf cities, the migrant backgrounds of mid-income to high

income groups are rather diverse, while a large majority of low-income labourers were recruited

from South Asian countries. Particularly, new economies within the emerging high service sector

have been built on migrants from various origins leading to a multicultural society.

Taking Qatar’s capital city Doha as an example, it was a fishing and pearl diving settlement. Today,

it is home to more than 90% of the country’s 2.0 million people, including over 80% foreign workers

from other countries. Up to the mid-1960s, the majority of the buildings in Doha were traditional

houses that presented local responses to the surrounding physical and socio-cultural conditions.

During the 1970s, Doha was transformed into a modernized city. However, in the 1980s and early

1990s, the development process was slow compared to the preceding period due to a discouraging

political atmosphere and the first Gulf war (Salama and Wiedmann, 2013-a). Since the end of the

1990s, the city has acquired a new geo-strategic importance. Through the shift of global economic

forces, it is being developed as a service hub, joining other major cities in the region and entering a

fierce competition (Wiedmann, Salama and Thierstein, 2012). One key aspect to establish Doha as

a regional centre of service sectors is however continuous immigration.

The multicultural aspect of a migrant, multicultural city is expected to have an increasing impact on

future urban developments. Until today, little attention has, however, been paid to this aspect,

including the understanding of the resulting inhabitants’ spatial and lived experience and their

attitudes toward the new urbanized spaces. This paper bases its argument in this regard on the

premise that the global condition has created a sense of “placelessness” in many cities, and Doha

is no exception (Salama, 2013-b). As a reaction, evoking a sense of place through creating urban

diversity by introducing mixed-use developments and a wide variety of activities and fostering

liveability and the quality of urban life have become primary concerns in contemporary discourse on

urbanism (Fainstein, 2005). As in the case of many emerging cities worldwide, Doha’s economic

future will therefore heavily rely on its attractiveness as a residence for multicultural migrant

communities.

Developing competitive service sectors postulate that Gulf cities will increasingly rely on the long-

term commitment of educated workforce to settle and subsequently to invest in Doha. The frequent

exchange of migrant communities means a significant loss of knowledge as well as capital and thus

great difficulties in establishing new economic sectors. In order to attract high-income groups, Doha

should be perceived as a liveable place providing a wide range of urban qualities. This paper

attempts to add important empirical research to the current struggle to gain insights into how

attractive urban environments are perceived and experienced. Based on key theoretical

underpinning a methodological approach is established to examine the various ways Doha is

perceived by the four main cultural groups within the present mid-income migrant society. The

paper is concluded with an outlook that articulates that major challenges to improve liveability in the

city.

2. Selected theoretical underpinnings on liveability

Liveability is the totality of the features that add up to a group, a community, or a city’s quality of

urban life - including the built and natural environments, economic prosperity, social stability and

equity, educational opportunity, and cultural, entertainment, and recreation possibilities (Partners for

Liveable Communities, 2012). Most liveability definitions involve aspects related to effective

transportation, community, and quality. Yet, there is no one-consensus definition.

Two important perceptive points must be made in the context of theorizing liveability. The first is

that recent research reveals that there is a conceptual overlap between liveability and sustainability

(Ministry of Environment New Zealand 2011). Industries and government agencies worldwide have

addressed liveability as an important aspect of healthy cities (Philips Professional and Public

Affairs, 2010). Nonetheless, a growing body of knowledge is emerging to support each separately.

The second point posits that there is a clear distinction between “urban” and “built” where the

former is about inhabitants, while the latter is about buildings. On the one hand, an “urban

environment” is any street, neighbourhood, suburb, or city with enough people, typically more than

a thousand. A “built environment” is one that has a high ratio of buildings and structures to open

space, and where those buildings are used for a variety of activities (Chase, Crawford and Kaliski,

1999). In a recent comprehensive literature study on liveability and sustainability, commonalities

emerged due to a lack of definitional distinction between the two terms. This underscores, however,

the development of an interconnected relationship between both concepts (Young and Hermanson,

2013). Clearly, urban environments and built environments are the same thing - a high population

requires a high density of buildings. This connotes that liveability involves duality; two major

dimensions. The first is physical and relates to objective measures of the built environment, and the

second is intangible and relates to subjective aspects that pertain to feelings and perceptions of the

people living in that environment (Goonewardena, Kipfer, Milgrom and Schmid, 2008).

With their varied socio-physical, socio-economic, socio-cultural, and socio-political presence, cities

have always been highly differentiated spaces expressive of heterogeneity, diversity of activities,

entertainment, excitement, and pleasure. They have been (and still are) melting pots for the

formulation of and experimentation with new philosophies and religious and social practices (Glazer

and Moynihan, 1963). Thus, the perception of the liveability of a city highly depends on the various

backgrounds of inhabitants. Yet, a multifaceted view seems to dominate recent debates on

liveability. Such a view involves common topics such as smart growth, complete streets, lifelong

communities, context sensitive design and planning, transit-oriented development, and place

making. While additional liveability premises exist, these most common topics represent those with

the most established literature. Liveability is about pleasant and appropriate urban environments

that offer and reflect cultural values and foster individual career aspirations. According to Shaftoe

(2008), key principles integral to this aspect are equity, dignity, accessibility, conviviality,

participation, and empowerment.

In the context of Gulf cities, liveability expresses the notion of a place that is good to live, work, and

play in an urban environment where people enjoy a high quality of urban life based on their own

perceptions. The term “liveable” is thus not limited to a strict set of certain qualities of an urban

environment. It similarly applies to the degree to which diversity is achieved to enable inhabitants to

identify and attach to places. This includes their satisfaction with the quality of urban life, the quality

of their residence and movement within the city, among other issues. Any quality is however

assessed by the individual based on past experiences and gained values. Thus, similarities how

certain urban qualities are perceived can be detected in the case of a group of people who grew up

in a comparable environment. Subsequently, the cultural background of immigrants plays an

important role in to what extent emerging cities are perceived as liveable and thus attractive.

The work of the Henri Lefebvre has had a large impact on the contemporary understanding of

space as a product of complex ‘social superstructures’ (Lefebvre, 1991, p. 85) arguing that space

cannot be understood as a simple collection of elements because a society’s space is actually a

product that has been created through its own individual spatial practice and perception. Lefebvre

introduced the term ‘lived space’ as the unconscious, non-verbal direct relation of humans to space.

Also known as ‘representational space’, it is directly lived through associated images and symbols

(Lefebvre 1991, p. 39). Thus rooted in the past experience it is essentially subjective wherein the

outer physical space resonates with the inner imagination. Specific locations within a locality can

become focal points due to their position and status within the representational space of the

particular community of people who use that locale (Lefebvre, 1991, p. 45). Thus, the perception of

liveability depends on this individual relationship between inhabitants and surrounding space

(Purcell, 2002).

3. A methodological framework: Examining liveability

In order to explore the various perceptions of liveability in Doha a comprehensive survey was

conducted by the authors in 2012-2013. It aimed to investigate key parameters that foster the

development of insights into a better understanding of liveability. The investigation is exclusively

focused on mainstream middle class expatriates and their perceptions due to their key role in

introducing demand-driven incentives as consumers and investors. An attitude survey was

distributed to employees in 43 companies within the advanced producer service sector in Doha.

The companies were selected according to their key roles in current developments and their overall

size. More than 70% of the selected companies have been in Doha less than ten years and have

recruited mainly expatriates. Overall 351 employees participated in the survey and 280 complete

responses were received.

Encompassing multiple-choice and open-ended questions the survey was constituted in three

sections. The first was about basic information related to age, gender, country of origin, years of

residency in Doha. The second concerned itself with urban life aspects such as mobility, housing,

and city services. This section was analysed into “urban life perceptions” by comparing the

responses of each cultural group. The third section aimed at exploring respondents’ experience of

key urban spaces in the city where questions were supported by photographs to establish an

understanding of “urban space perceptions.” Participants were given one month to fill in the

questionnaire and were offered the opportunity to contact the authors for clarifying the questions as

needed.

The initial step of the analysis involved an identification of four main groups of migrants with a

comparable background: Middle Eastern, Western, Indian, and South-East Asian. Notably in this

step, the cultural background is defined only by the country of origin of the participants based on the

understanding that several sub-cultures may exist within a country. Therefore, the study assumes

that most of the participants from one world region share a certain set of experiences and values.

Overall, 280 survey forms were utilized for assessing and comparing results, with approximately 70

forms were selected to represent each group after the exclusion of incomplete questionnaires.

3.1 General profile and cultural background of the survey participants

Despite the fact that all participants work in the advanced economic sector the salaries often differ

depending on education, experience and country of origin. In this context, a degree holder or an

experienced professional from a Western country usually demand and is offered a higher salary.

Thus, it can be assumed that participants who originate from Europe, North America or Australia

earn a higher average salary or have entitlement to certain allowances. While around 76% of all

Western Interviewees originate from Europe and mainly from the United Kingdom (49%), the

remaining share is constituted by North Americans (20%) and Australians (4%). The high average

age of 39 years in the case of the Western respondents can be interpreted as a further indication

that they occupy senior positions in companies identified. The female share of the respondents with

an Indian background is lower when compared with the other three groups. The average number of

years of residence in Qatar the Middle Eastern group as a whole is the highest (Table 1).

Cultural Background

Gender Average Age

Years in Doha

Car Ownership

Male Female

Indian 81% 19% 35 8 73% Middle-Eastern 61% 39% 31 12 84%

South-East Asian 44% 56% 35 4 46%

Western 59% 41% 39 3 81%

Table 1. Overview of the four main groups of survey participants.

The majority of the Middle Eastern survey respondents originate from the Levant including Lebanon

(39%), Syria (13%) as well as Jordan (11%) and Palestine (11%). Egyptians constitute the

remaining 26% of this cultural group. Their average age is the lowest of all the four groups although

they have spent the longest time on average in Qatar. This is a clear indication that many Arab

expatriates have decided to reside in Doha in parallel to or before the recent construction boom and

that there is a general tendency of long-term commitment to the city. This can also be observed in

the case of respondents from India, who have spent on average 8 years in Qatar. More than 94% of

all Southeast Asian participants are from the Philippines, while only 6% are from Malaysia and

Indonesia. In addition to their rather short average stay in Qatar the largest share of female

respondents characterizes this group at 56%, with the lowest rate of car ownership at only 46% for

the whole group.

3.1 Relocation motives and residential profile

All participants were asked to assess their main motives of why they have relocated to Doha

(Figure 1). Key parallels can be detected between Western and South-East Asian respondents,

whose main motives are the job opportunity itself, the professional experience and higher salaries

than in their countries of origin. In both cases cultural factors play no role at all, while family life and

safety are perceived as minor motives. This is in clear contrast to participants from the Middle East,

in which case all motives seem to play an equal important role, which can be interpreted for a clear

indication that many of them are prepared to stay in Qatar long term. In the case of Indian migrants

a large majority of respondents identifies safety as a major motive in addition to the high salary.

Moreover, family life seems to play an equally important role within their motives to move to Doha.

Figure 1. The main motives of the four groups to move and stay in Doha

Participants were requested to share their residence location as well as their residence type. More

than half of the respondents (54%) live in apartments in central urban areas followed by 38% who

live in villas or apartments in gated residential communities in the urban periphery (Figure 2). The

remaining share of 8% lives in exclusive residential towers along the Northern waterfront. Notably, a

majority from Western countries (56%) lives in the urban periphery, while only 26% live in central

districts. For other groups most respondents live in apartments in the rather densely populated

areas close by C-Ring Road, one of the major urban arteries in the city. Neither Indian nor South-

East Asian resides in waterfront developments. Approximately, about 20% of the respondents

within each group did not choose their own residence, which is provided by their employers.

Figure 2. The three main locations of residences and the share of each group

4. Perceiving Urban Life

The urban life component aims at understanding how different groups perceive key liveability

factors. Factors included traffic experience, residential quality, shopping experience, leisure, and

the overall attractiveness of the city.

Participants were asked if they experience traffic in Doha as chaotic, moderate, or pleasant. A

majority of those from Western origin (73%) assesses the traffic conditions in Doha as chaotic.

While only a slight majority of Middle Eastern respondents share the opinion that traffic experience

is moderate (55%), a majority of 66% and 79% perceives it as moderate and even pleasant in the

case of Indian and South-East Asian respondents. Most respondents rely on their own cars, while

the remaining share uses taxi services and personal drivers. When participants were asked if they

would actually prefer public transportation instead of using a car or taxi due to climatic conditions

more than 70% prefer to drive a car instead of using a bus service. Only in the case of migrants of

Western origin a major share of 41% would rather use public transportation, which is likely based on

their perception of traffic conditions as rather chaotic and their past experiences regarding the

standards of public transportation in their home countries, especially Europeans. Public

transportation services are not yet provided to all inhabitants and limited to a few bus routes.

Approximately 90% of all respondents are satisfied with their current residence, but in none of the

four groups a majority can be found who would perceive their present housing conditions in Doha

as an improvement to their former residence outside Qatar. In the case of respondents with a

Western or Middle Eastern background only 20% experience their new residence as an

improvement on their previous standard, while almost 40% of Indian and South-East Asian

interviewees identify their housing conditions as a significant improvement. They were furthermore

asked to share their experiences and perceptions regarding the situation of commercial services

and leisure spaces in Doha. Shopping malls are currently the main centres for shopping as well as

for entertainment in Qatar. Most interviewees share the preference of shopping malls instead of

shopping streets in central areas due to weather temperatures and humidity as well as their

accessibility by car. It is observed that old downtown areas are to a large extent avoided by most

respondents. While around 50% of the South-East Asian and Middle Eastern survey participants

visit the old city centre every month, around 64% and 52% of Western and Indian respondents visit

it only a few times per year. While Middle Eastern and Western respondents mainly prefer to visit

central areas in order to go to certain quality restaurants, a majority of Indian and South-East Asian

participants visit downtown areas only to experience shopping. 50% of all interviewees within each

group are satisfied with the current supply of commercial services in Doha.

Participants were asked how many hours per week they spend for leisure outside their residence.

While 40% with a Middle Eastern or Western background usually spend more than 10 hours per

week outside in shopping malls, hotels or public leisure spaces, less than 20% of the respondents

with an Indian or South-East Asian background spend a similar amount of time outside. The main

leisure spaces identified by the respondents are four major shopping malls, the old historic city

core, the waterfront promenades as well as hotels. In contrast to the other three groups, a high

percentage of Western participants prefer to spend their leisure time in hotels (78%). While in the

case of Middle Eastern survey participants a majority prefers to spend leisure time in restaurants in

the old city core, South-East Asians and Indians clearly prefer shopping malls and public spaces,

such as the Corniche/the waterfront or Aspire Park. In addition, Indian and South-East Asian

respondents perceive the distances to leisure spaces as too far from their residences, while only

around 25% of the survey participants share this perception in the case of the Middle Eastern and

the Western groups. In all four groups a slight majority of around 58% assesses the existing leisure

spaces as generally attractive.

Asking about their general impressions regarding the attractiveness of Doha as their city of

residence a majority of respondents in all four groups can imagine residing in Doha long-term.

While almost 90% of Middle Eastern respondents would like to settle in Doha more permanently,

approximately 70% of all respondents in the other three groups would be interested to live in Qatar

beyond their initial contracts. In order to assess the general impression of the city participants were

asked how attractive they have perceived Doha on arrival and how they perceive it today. In the

case of Middle Eastern interviewees no major difference can be assessed and a majority of

approximately 70% shares the opinion that Doha is an attractive city. A significant shift between

initial perception and current assessment can be noticed in the case of the other three groups, in

which cases the share of a positive perception of Doha has increased from around 55% to more

than 71%. In addition, a large majority of respondents share the opinion that Doha will continue to

become more and more attractive in future.

5. Perceiving Urban Spaces

In attempting to understand inhabitants’ perceptions about key urban spaces or nodes within the

city participants were asked to identify the most representative urban spaces in Doha. The most

frequently mentioned urban space was the high-rise agglomeration in the West Bay viewed from

the Corniche/waterfront. However, most respondents perceive the old historic market, known as

Souq Waqif (the standing market), as most representative urban space. The Souq was restored

between 2004 and 2007 and was shortlisted for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Other urban

spaces including the exclusive residential areas with public access such as the Pearl development,

and the Museum of Islamic Art were mentioned as important urban spaces representing

contemporary Doha. In order to get a closer insight of how urban spaces are perceived by the

participants, four urban spaces were identified to examine whether they would be perceived as

familiar or unfamiliar, attractive or unattractive as well as iconic or subtle.

The first urban space was the Corniche/waterfront due to its dominance. The Corniche/waterfront

was designed by the British architect Llewlyn Davis and built during the 1970s on partially reclaimed

land. The 7 kilometre long promenade links the old port area close by the historic city core and the

new urban extension in the West Bay. Since the end of the 20th century West Bay became the

main centre for high-rise projects in Doha, which was ignited by the announced move of public and

semi-public institutions. In 2008 the Museum of Islamic Art, designed by the I.M. Pei, was

completed on the opposite side of West Bay forming an ensemble of postmodern and traditionally

inspired architectural landmarks (Salama and Wiedmann, 2013). Due to its size and position the

Corniche/waterfront is often perceived as the main centre of Doha in spite of its prime function as

transition zone. All four groups are very familiar with the Corniche/waterfront and in the case of

each group a majority perceives this key urban space as attractive and iconic. Only in the case of

the South-East Asian group a significant share of respondents of 33% would not identify the

Corniche/waterfront as iconic and around 20% do not perceive it as attractive (Figure 3). Reasons

could be the very limited availability of commercial services and the constrained accessibility for

pedestrians due to the insufficient traffic lights and crossing points. Nonetheless, in spite of the fact

that the high-rise waterfront has only been constructed a few years past, it has become the main

landmark representing modern and globalized Doha in the view of all cultural groups.

Figure 3. The waterfront promenade along the Corniche and the perceptions of the four groups

The restored historic market area was the second urban space examined (Figure 4). In addition to

the Souq Waqif, the historic part of Doha is currently regenerated by a major development, known

as Msheireb. Today the rebuilt traditional market is the only urban space where the historic

vernacular architecture can be experienced. Most respondents are familiar with the urban area due

to frequent visits. Southeast Asian respondents are however the least familiar with the urban area

at only 64%, while Middle Eastern respondents are the most familiar with it. Most Southeast Asians

furthermore identify the historic core as neither very attractive nor iconic, while all other groups

share the perception that it is very important for Doha as an attractive and iconic urban space

representing the heritage of the city. In particular, Europeans perceive the Souq Waqif as an iconic

landmark of Doha due to their general widespread idea of a historic core reflecting the main identity

of a city.

Figure 4. The restored historic city core and the perceptions of the four groups

The C-Ring Road along the Al Sadd district was selected as third key urban space (Figure 5). The

ring road encircles the old downtown area and in recent years it became the main centre for office

developments as well as apartment buildings. Due to the extending urban periphery the Al Sadd

district became one of the most accessible and increasingly important business districts. Today a

majority of companies are currently located in the area and its surroundings. Thus, most

respondents reside in apartments within or close by the Al Sadd district. Due to the previous

restrictions on low-rise residential developments along C-Ring Road, the recent transformation to a

high density and mixed-use urban area has led to a rather fragmented urban structure. Thus, only a

minority of respondents within each group would perceive this urban space as attractive or iconic.

Particularly, respondents with a Western background assess the space as unattractive and rather

unfamiliar due to its chaotic structure, while Middle Eastern and Indian survey participants are

highly familiar with the environment and are generally rather neutral when they assess its

attractiveness. Southeast Asian participants are less familiar with the spatial configuration but

similarly neutral.

Participants assessed the particular urban landscape in the suburbs, which is defined by residential

areas mainly occupied by locals, compound developments and large-scale shopping malls. Today

more than 60% of the overall urban area is covered by these urban typologies. The most prominent

areas can be found in the North and West of the city. Similar to the case of Al Sadd urban space a

majority of participants is housed in compounds in these urban areas. Due to the high walls

protecting the privacy of Qatari families and compounds and due to a missing supply of proper

pedestrian walkways, public spaces or integrated services, the urban periphery of Doha is currently

perceived as rather unfamiliar and unattractive. Participants with a Western background are mostly

repelled by the current built environment in Doha’s suburbs, while Middle Eastern interviewees

perceive the urban space of these areas as less conflicted and mainly neutral. A substantial

majority of Indian and Southeast Asian respondents are not familiar with this urban setting and

perceive it as rather unattractive (Figure 6). The negative perceptions are mainly based on the

missing street life and the rather deserted public spaces in suburban areas as well as the general

impression of rejection and introverted privacy as well as the often missing pedestrian walkways.

Figure 5. The Al Sadd District along C-Ring Road and the perceptions of the four groups

The comparison of the four urban spaces reveals the fragmented nature of City’s peripheries that

are currently perceived as less attractive. While key landmark urban spaces, such as the

Corniche/waterfront, shape an impressive image of Doha as an emerging international and modern

metropolis, the actual everyday urban environment of most respondents in suburban and downtown

areas differs dramatically from this designed urban stage. The rapid urban growth coupled with

missing regulations led to fragmented and chaotic urban landscapes with hardly any distinct

characteristics. Despite fact that the dense built environment of central areas is in clear contrast to

the low-rise urban sprawl along Doha’s periphery, both urban landscapes are an expression of

randomness and supply-driven mechanisms within local real-estate markets. Doha is therefore an

archetypal case of a late 20th century-born city in the Global South in which key spaces are

overemphasized in order to brand a city with a globalized image, while most urban areas are

replaceable, repetitive and repelling (Brenner and Roger, 2011).

Figure 6. The suburban landscape in the North of Doha and the perceptions of the four groups

6. Lessons and Challenges: Toward a Liveable Doha

The inquiry into liveability and its underlying factors uncovers a number of concerns and alarming

figures. Traffic experience appears unsatisfactory, and low quality housing construction and

maintenance and insufficient parking spaces, school facilities, and shopping opportunities are major

sources of discontent for the majority of respondents. Today, the continuous exchange of migrants

hinders the demands of communities from having a more efficient impact on development patterns.

It should be noted nonetheless that life in Doha is often still perceived as attractive due to high

salaries, general safety and many professional opportunities in certain areas, such as construction,

research and education (Nagy, 2006).

While this research involves investigations of liveability perceptions as they relate to middle and

upper middle class expatriates other segments of Doha’s society including the labour class are not

included. In essence, this represents one of the limitations of this exploration. However, it generates

a discussion on social sustainability and the challenges involved in achieving the balance between

actual demands and current supply of urban environments. Doha's society is facing the

consequences of the large-scale inflow of an expatriate and migrant labour workforce over a short

period of time. This large population segment of expatriate workers is in addition to skilled or

professional med-income and high-income expatriate groups engaged in newly emerging economic

sectors. The various cultural differences, as well as the widely diverging income brackets, have led

to strong social segregation.

Based on the fact that the local population is a small minority of approximately 13 per cent of the

total population, there is no coherent majority within Doha's society apart from the diverse groups of

expatriates. Segregation patterns between nationals and expatriates are zealously maintained;

furthermore, constraints to developing a less anonymous and more integrated society are also due

to the continuous labour movement patterns and exchange of a large percentage of the expatriate

workforce on a regular basis. In addition to social segregation by residential area, little effort,

coupled with a lack of desire, has been made by decision-makers to develop more integrated

environments and public realms to be used as platforms for an emerging society. Today, while

shopping malls are the most frequently used leisure and entertainment spaces for higher income

groups, low-income groups usually shop and stay close to their residences, a clear indication of

social and income demarcation which extends beyond residential patterns.

While future development plans of the city may seem to address specific groups and cater to

specific age groups or cultural backgrounds, a more inclusive approach to the design of urban

spaces presents a challenge. Urban design as a discipline and a profession focuses on creating

environments that promote opportunities and experiences for all city inhabitants. Therefore, it is

crucial that most of the urban space actions and activities are made available to and enjoyed by the

majority of the city’s population. In this respect, the lesson learned is that the urban development

process of the city necessitates a consideration of the development of spaces based on the

perception and understanding of different groups. This needs to be adopted as one of the key

factors in developing liveable urban spaces that involve a wide spectrum of urban and spatial

qualities relevant to the multicultural nature that characterizes such a globalizing context.

7. Conclusion

Often oversimplified the perception of a majority of mid-income inhabitants regarding the city as

being a familiar and highly attractive place is an increasingly essential factor for the inner

consolidation and thus sustainability of a city in the age of rapid globalization. Only a society with a

shared level of identification to its environment can take responsibility for it. Today, the immense

social segregation between social groups in Doha is not experienced as a very grave potential

threat to stability. The images created in contemporary Doha are, however, fragile due to their

superficial nature. Thus, creating identity is not only the challenge of city-branding strategies.

Identity is to a large extent created when inhabitants can become active participants in the spatial

development process rather than excluded observers. This goes along contemporary literature on

urban identity (Lalli, 1992; Oktay, 2002; Sutton & Kemp, 2011) which asserts that urban identity is a

constituent of urban liveability and an integral component in the process of creating liveable

environments in changing contexts. Therefore, one of the major challenges is to integrate migrant

communities in the development of future Doha while sustaining Qatar’s distinct local cultural

identity despite the overall shrinking share of the native population.

The continuous exchange and movement of a majority of a fairly transient population exacerbate

this situation of a conflicted identity. As such, Doha's contemporary society consists of several

parallel societies as well as fragmented and often-isolated social groups, leading to anonymity and

in some work situations, such as those of domestic helpers, isolation. Many Qataris feel threatened

by this constant influx of people who they often feel are invading and changing their local culture.

Thus, both future migration patterns and the willingness of the native population to adapt to the new

situation of continuous internationalisation will therefore play a key role in shaping Qatar’s new

identity.

This study therefore contributes to the international and regional research efforts to understand

urbanism in the Gulf region, as exemplified in Doha, and the potential impact of rapid and extensive

migration. The newly emerging Gulf cities have attracted a rather diverse mixture of cultural groups,

who share their one main common interest to earn higher salaries than in their home countries. This

effect of the globalization process has however led to replaceable urban landscapes

accommodating the urgent needs of consumption rather than integrating and reflecting cultural

diversity. Exploring the perceptions of migrant communities can become the basis of further in-

depth research regarding the various potentials of how new demand-driven mechanisms, e.g. within

housing markets, can diversify spatial developments in future. Thus, the outcomes of this study can

be regarded as a first attempt to point out the potential key role of the various migrant communities

in shaping a new urban identity in Qatar by investigating current perceptions of different cultural

groups.

Acknowledgements

The material of this paper is part of a 3 years research project funded by Qatar National Research

Fund (QNRF/NPRP 09-1083-6-023). Thanks are due to Fatma Khalfani, Ahood Al-Maimani, Velina

Mirincheva for their support in conducting the survey.

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